It must be said that the Belgians themselves have not helped foster an image of national unity. Unable to form a government three months after elections, their media are speculating freely about a "velvet divorce" between the Dutch-speaking north and the French-speaking south. The man who won the elections has not been much help. Asked whether he knew the national anthem, Yves Leterme, a Flemish politician with a Walloon father, began singing the Marseillaise. As surely everyone knows, he should have sung the Brabançonne. Asked what the Belgians have in common, he replied: "The king, the football team, some beers ... " Is that enough? It is true that Flanders could be hived off into a state the size of Denmark; although Wallonia, once the industrial powerhouse, would have problems shouldering its part of health provision, social services and the railways. It is also true that the two communities talk past, or over, but never to each other. Not one political party straddles the linguistic divide. But does it matter? There is no shortage of famous Walloons (Georges Simenon, Jacques Brel) or famous painters from Flanders (starting with Rubens). The problem is that everyone thinks of the former as French and the latter as Dutch. Maybe the two communities really would be poorer without the friction generated by living next to the other. The country's semi-permanent crisis of linguistic identity adds spice and grit to life in an otherwise wealthy and boring part of northern Europe.